Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Good progress has been made over the last three months in implementing the project activities in the five new villages adopted in 2011 - Um Layouna, Amar Jaded, Hilat Kabir, Elfaki Ali and Siwailanga. The village level veterinary services are now fully in place with the newly trained paravets equipped with their veterinary kits and cross bred donkeys and the revolving veterinary drugs funds established in each village to ensure that livestock owners have ready access to the necessary drugs when their animals are sick. During the last three months all the households who will receive goat and donkey loans have received detailed animal husbandry training to ensure that they are well equipped to look after their animals properly. The training covered animal nutrition, welfare, health and reproduction. In total training was provided to 383 people including members of the Animal Loans Committees which will be responsible for managing the goat and donkey loans. In addition 5 children in each village who comprise the Children's Shepherd Committee also received training as children play a major part in caring for the animals - in particular they are frequently responsible for grazing the animals on the communal grazing lands around the village. As the children are so closely involved in caring for the animals they are in a good position to detect early signs of sickness in the animals if they are trained in the symptoms to look out for. The Children's Shepherd Committee members are responsible for checking all the animals on a weekly basis and for reporting any signs of sickness to the Animal Loans Committee and the paravets. This process helps to ensure that the beneficiaries' goats and donkeys remain healthy and productive.

Following the completion of the animal husbandry training the beneficiary households have all received their goats and donkeys. Each household received 5 female goats whilst a male goat is shared between 3 households. In total 885 goats (830 females and 55 males) have been distributed to 166 households. In addition each household has been provided with a donkey.  These poor families now have both a source of income from the goats from the sale of milk and kids and milk as a source of nutrition for their malnourished children. This has a hugely significant impact on the health of the children. In a survey of villages in Darfur carried out by UNICEF in 2010, UNICEF noted that KIDS FOR KIDS' villages stood out for the low levels of malnutrition.

The donkeys also make a huge difference to families, particularly to the women, who no longer have to carry heavy loads of water, firewood and fodder on their heads. The donkey also saves time as it can carry 4 jerry cans of water whilst a woman can only carry one - so apart from reducing the journey time to the water source there is no need to go so often to collect the water requirements of the household. Children are frequently given the task of collecting water and being able to complete the task more quickly with the donkey they now have time to go to school and to obtain the education which can give them the chance of a better future. In addition to reducing the drudgery of the daily tasks of collecting water, firewood and fodder for the household the donkeys also provide a source of income through rental or through sales of additional water, firewood and fodder which the family has been able to collect. Income from the goats and the donkey enables a family to buy things which it could never afford before - to pay for water and school fees and books and to buy medicines for sick children. Above all it provides peace of mind knowing that they have a means of covering future emergencies - this is the gift your support has given to vulnerable families in Darfur and they are eternally grateful.